St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1887-07-21

4
poem. He had been responsible" be-
fore now and as nothing surprised
him, he was not surprised to find him.
self responsible" again. While he
had been discharging his other Offices
the chief had been Irresponsible"
John Orcutt now thought he would
take the comfort of being responsible.
The chiefs Office was much larger than
the little cell which he usually occu-
pied. That was one comfort. At his
side were the choicest English and
French and German papers. While
he sat, the grave, pale little boy, who
opened the mails and distributed to
the gentlemen their specialties, brought
in fresh copies of the London Specta-
for, LIE Nord, LIE Temps, the Revue des
Deux MOndes and the Journal Officiel.
For the chief liked to have the first
dip into them. And so John circuit,
having for a wonder no inventors to
hear, with new projects for the en-
franchisement of mankind, put pin
into the loose sheets of the Journal
Officiel, turned to the non official part
of it of course, and began to cut tue
leaves. He saw in moment that
there was nothing for which his public
cared. But there was curious report
on the food of infants, presented to the
Academic de Medicine, in Paris, by
Leon Brousais. 1t went deep into de-
tail, and he who did not understand
before about goats milk, asses milk,
cows milk and woman's milk, did af
terward. John Orcutt looked through
the details in the elaborate tables, put
the whole in Il cover, and sent it to his
class mate, Flanders. Thirty six hours
afterward, on Sunday morning, he
found this note on his desk.
Dear Orcutt: l thank you, or, rev.
erently, l thank the good God, for
your Frenchman and his report. PeO-
pie will believe printed scrap from
Europe when they will not listen to an
angel of light at home. Our orphan
board met = quarterly meeting = at
noon to-day. | carried Broussais's pa
per, and utterly floOred the old fOgies
with it. Dear boy, it meant one hun
dred live babies this summer, cooling
and playing in their mothers arms, in
stead of one hundred little crosses over
mounds in the cemetery. l cannot
thank you enough. Shall l send back
the paper9 Yours always,
w. FLANDERS.
When the Recording Angel entered
this business of the one hundred ba-
bies on William Flanders's book, he
directed two of his assistants to make
cross references to that entry in Helen
Melcher's book and in John Oicutt's
and he smiled with that queer smile of
his again.
And, to 60 back again, John Orcutt
still sat, Friday night, in the RESPONSE
BILE chair. To him there came in the
chief of ship news.
"It is not our affair."" said this gen
tleman. "But clearly this compiled
ton in the Marquesas islands is not
understood by the gentlemen in Baby
Ion"
Alas d! John Orcutt felt that he did
not understand it, and could not. But
he did what responsible editor should
! do.
"All right" he said. "YOu can
leave the papers with me-"
Now there was among the young
men who did general wOrk"-repOrt-
ed base ball matches to-day, and dis
cussiOns on quaterniOns morrow
one serious fellow, named Pringle,
whom John Orcutt liked. He hardly
knew why. He had never spoken to
the young fellow, except to nod as
they met in the wasl. room. But Prin-
gle was always at mis- desk five II in
utes before he had to be, always was
the last man there at night, even long
after the others were gone. In over
| looking proof ono week OrcuJt had no
ticed that Pringle's copy was always
clean, and he knew that in eighteen
months he had never been blown up
for a lie or an exaggeratiOn. So, as
soon as the ship news chief went out,
John Oreutt struck his bell, and sent
for Mr.. Pringle.
The young man came, amazed. They
were often sent for in the morning.
But never before had he been in the
chiefs Office at eleven at night.
"What are you doing, Mr.. Pringle 2"
asked John.
81 am making rather d curious tabu-
lar statement, from my own notes,
comparing the number of catches on
the fly, made in a temperature of 800
against those made at an average tenn
perature of 600"
"Would it do as we'll on Monday, or
is anyone else doing the same thing 2"
Mr.. Pringle was quite sure no one
else was doing it. He had not even
suggested it to any of the other men,
so eager was he that To day only
should have the glory of the discovery,
if discovery there were. In the slang
of the Office he called the glory, "Ku
dOs.n
"Then will thank you to take those
letters and papers, which Mr.. Atwood
has left me, and sift out this FIJI and
Marquesas business. | do not know,
but l suspect that our admiral is
wrong. | do not know, but l think
that there is no French admiral there.
l do not know that the Babylon pa
pers are wholly wrong. Have the
goodness to look up the international
law. Do not forget the cases of the
Wild-dyer- and of the Pilgrim, which
are, [ think, the leading cases. Look
at POrter's account of his occupation
of Marquesas. Take as much space as
you like, but be sure that we are right
and not wrong. L will hold back the
press if you choose. l am sorry to
keep you up"
"That is of no consequence" said
the young man, his face all beaming
with delight. 81 shall have four hours
clear.n
''And think no one will interrupt
yOu," said John Orcutt, laughing.
"GoOd night"
"Good night, SIR" And the happy
young fellow took away the papers.
When the great editor returned on
Monday morning, he drove directly to
John Orcutt's home. 1t was in the |
fifth story of the Wellington apartment
hotel.
"Mrs. Orcutt, l am sure you will